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Being a dealer at the Denver Brass Armadillo and an avid collector, I recently had the opportunity to visit Tucson, Arizona. Naturally I wanted to check out a few of the antique shops there. Making the rounds of several shops, it was only natural to notice the subtle, and not so subtle, differences between the Denver Brass Armadillo and the shops in Tucson. While none of the Tucson shops are as large as the Brass, several shops are centrally located to one another and that helps cut down on driving from one to the next as well as finding parking. However, parking is an issue as there are very, very limited spaces available. Many of the shops appear to be sole owner/dealer shops or shops with a very limited number of dealers. I visited four so called “antique malls” of which the largest had approximately 30,000 square feet and a reported 200 dealers. The others were quite a bit smaller. None approached the size of the Denver Brass Armadillo.
While the Tucson shops have ample inventory of glassware, dishes, jewelry, Native American and Western memorabilia, and other smaller collectibles and antiques, the supply and selection of antique furniture was very limited with almost no Victorian or Early American pieces. Most furniture was Southwest design or mid-Twentieth Century style. The limited furniture antiques may be explained by the fact most of the shops have only limited floor space and there just isn’t space for furniture.
All of the shops have some locked display cases similar to the Brass, but gaining access to a case is not as convenient as the Brass’s individually locked cases. To inspect and closely examine an item in a case in the Tucson shops, it is necessary to go to the front counter and request a staff member to unlock the case. This is very inconvenient and time consuming, not only for the shopper, but also for the shop’s staff. On several occasions I had to wait 5 or more minutes before someone could locate a key to the case and come and unlock a specific case.
Looking for antique dolls? There is a doll museum at Christine’s Antiques which houses hundreds of dolls. It’s quite impressive with dolls of all designs, ages, compositions, size, and value. If you are a doll collector, or just have an interest in dolls, it is worth a trip to Christine’s Antiques on Speedway Boulevard in Tucson.
If you have the opportunity to visit Tucson, be sure to check out the antiques. You will definitely meet some really nice and friendly folks!!!

Madame Alexander Dolls – Shelf Sitters? ?
Many of us Baby Boomers remember the gorgeous Madame Alexander Dolls as our Christmas Wish doll, or as a “shelf sitter” if we were lucky enough to have one. The impeccably designed and beautifully dressed dolls were always so stylishly clothed and were the envy of every little girl, and many women too.
Madame Beatrice Alexander was born in Brooklyn, NY on March 9, 1985 to Russian immigrants. Her father had a “doll hospital” repair shop where Beatrice played with many dolls waiting to be mended, and she soon developed a deep love of dolls and their costumes. This love of dolls led her to start her own doll company at age 28. The popularity of her dolls grew into the Madame Alexander Doll Company which is still headquartered in New York City and still produces fabulous dolls today.
Madame Alexander has always created dolls of the highest quality which display the utmost attention to the smallest details. This was true from the beginning and continues through to today. The dolls’ costumes are impeccable and are designed to the latest clothing styles, whether the doll represents the Colonial times, the Roaring Twenties, or the 2015’s latest fashion trend.
Madame Alexander dolls introduced many firsts in the doll industry including dolls in a series, such as the First Ladies Inaugural Gown dolls, Holiday Occasions dolls, Women of History dolls, and International dolls series. Dolls having “sleep eyes” that opened and closed were also a Madame Alexander first.
While the price of Madame Alexander dolls can be in the thousands of dollars, many can be purchased for fifty dollar or less. Even dolls in “like-new” condition can be bought for under thirty dollars at antique and collector stores. The Brass Armadillo Antique Mall in Denver typically has a selection of Madame Alexander dolls for sale at very reasonable prices. Whether you are still awaiting your “Christmas Wish” doll or just have a fancy for beautiful dolls, the next time you are in the Brass Armadillo, look for Madame Alexander dolls - You may just have your Christmas wish come true!

Moorcroft Pottery – What a find!!!
Last week at the Denver Brass Armadillo, I spent about 45 minutes just browsing through the store and found a piece of Moorcroft art pottery. It’s an incredibly beautiful vase, near mint condition, and it was quite inexpensive. What a find! Moorcroft vases, lamps, ginger jars, etc. can be expensive as it’s a very labor-intensive creation process. The story of Moorcroft pottery and the intricate, detailed workmanship that go into creating each piece is truly an amazing art form. Moorcroft Pottery has been in business since 1897 and that one fact sets them apart from other pottery businesses. It all began with William Moorcroft being employed as a designer for a Staffordshire pottery manufacturer. His famous process is called “tubelining” and is much the same process used today. William Moorcroft submitted a piece of his art pottery at the World's Fair in 1904 and won a Gold Medal with a pottery called “Florian Ware”. In 1913, Moorcroft opened his own business in Stoke-on-Trent, England. With much recognition and success, he was appointed as Potter to Her Majesty the Queen in 1928. What an incredible honor that must have been! Moorcroft Pottery creates beautiful masterpieces for art pottery lovers all over the world. Each year, Christie’s Auction House dedicates an entire sale just to Moorcroft pottery. Many Moorcroft pieces are permanently shown in national museums as well as the Victoria & Albert Museum in the England. I won’t go into the details involved in creating this type of pottery but you can see a wonderful demonstration for yourself by going to this website: http://www.moorcroft.com/Site/Making/ . The video is hosted by Eric Knowles, a well-known TV antiques expert on BBC. Several books have been written including “Behind the Glaze” by Neil Swindells which covers William Moorcroft’s life story and his work. Keep your eyes out and you may just find a piece like I did or some other wonderful find. The Brass Armadillo never fails to amaze me with the variety of antiques and collectibles. You just never know what you’re going to find!

Over the last 100 years or so, there have been many glass manufacturers making a multitude of glass items. There were glass items made to serve a particular purpose and for daily use in the home. Then there were the pieces considered to be “art glass”. Satin Glass falls into that category. Satin Glass was first made as a decorative pressed glass in the 1880’s in England, and subsequently produced in the United States by Hobbs, Brockunier & Company of Wheeling, WV; Mount Washington Glass Works of New Bedford, MA, and the New England Glass Company of East Cambridge, MA. Today, Satin Glass pieces are usually made by individual glass blowers or private glass makers. Satin Glass is easily recognized as it has an opaque, dull matte finish, thus resembling satin linens and hence the name Satin Glass. The “satin” finish is a result of the glass being treated with hydrofluoric acid or some other abrasive acid. Some pieces have decorative surface patterns which are produced when tints are added during the glass molding process. To obtain the desired coloration, each piece is typically tinted with a pastel color with blue being the most common color. Satin Glass that contains pink, blue and yellow striations is usually referred to as rainbow Satin Glass. My first purchase of Satin Glass was at the Brass Armadillo about 15 years ago. Below is a picture of my first Satin Glass purchase. I think you will find Satin Glass as beautiful and desirable as any other type or style of decorative glass. I sure do. Take a look around the Brass Armadillo. You will find quite a variety of this wonderful work of art. One final note, Satin Glass requires rather delicate handling as any other piece of art.

1940’s - Believe it or not, during WWII, ladies’ elegant gloves were considered an unnecessary item and limited ration coupons were issued in order to purchase them. The fancy trim and embellishments of the past were gone and the colors were extremely practical, mostly neutrals and darker colors, and styles were quite simple. It was common to see ladies push their gloves down into a ruched effect to dress them up

1950’s - Once the war was over, gloves were readily available and very popular again. The 1950’s brought a more refined and dressier look for ladies.

Jackie Kennedy was a style icon during those years and she set the standard for how ladies should look for daytime and evening attire. Ladies began wearing matching gloves, purses and hats and the pulled together fashions were quite smart. The styles of gloves embodied all of the design from prior decades and came in lots of colors, trims and lengths. Evening attire required elbow-length or long gloves and were widely available in fabrics of lace, sheer, satin and nylon. Of course, their accessories were color coordinated to complement their dress or formal gown.

I remember going downtown shopping in department stores and ladies were always dressed in their nicest clothes. Their selection of gloves, hats and purses were made to coordinate with their clothing. You simply did not see jeans!

1960’s -

In the early‘60s, women were still dedicated to the coordinated look of attire of the 50’s. Around the mid-60’s trends changed and ladies were not wearing gloves as much except for formal attire. The gloves that were being worn were simpler in style, color and lacking decorations. As seasons changed so did the fabrics and tones of gloves - pastels in summer and darker tones in winter.

Hello from MI,
Antique Dan said I should write a blog, and as I'm new to all this new fangled teck stuff, you can blame him. Read Dan Bruns blog this morning about his adventure in opening his new antique mall, I can relate. We hope to open ours soon and have the grand opening the 4th of July weekend. I tripped over a dog and fell down some steps on our stairs last night, right into a marble top comode that sits on the landing and knocked off a pitcher (it was OK), landed on my shoulder with the torn rotor cuff, and I'm quite stiff this morning, so I can relate to Dan. Good luck Dan, sounds like you are doing OK with with your place.
We had tornadoes yesterday afternoon. Was working at the mall in Mason when it hit. My wife Kathi and I got down by the cash regester counter during the worst part. The warning bells went off about 20 minetes before the storm hit, so all the customes had left and the outdoors
booths were closed up. Lots of trees and power lines down, had to detoure twice to git out of town. On the hwyway back to Eaton Rapids, an ambulance passed us, so we thought we would just follow it back to town. Wrong, a semi had been blown over, the road was closed, had to turn around agin, go a differnt way. Police didn't want people driving thru town because of down trees and power lines, so I hope our store is still there! Several homes were destored between Eaton Rapids and Charlotte. but our farm came thru it OK. Hate to see old trees go down.
Our sales last week were way down, thought that with the hoiday, we would be gitting more tourest thur, but with gas prices, people might not have money for fuel and spending.
This pc I'm useing is the pits, old and slow. Our good one is in the shop being cleaned up.
Till next time,
Dennis

Original vs. Reproduction
So you found an old toy; but is it real or is it fake?Here are a few tips of the trade to help you decide if your new found treasure is the real deal.Castings in reproductions are rougher in texture because a course-grade sand is used in the molding process.The paint quality on reproduction toys show none of the aging process that adds patina and crazing of the paint.Another tip is to look at the seams where the parts of the toy piece together.The seams on original toys fit closer together as opposed to a reproduction which will have significant gaps.Also, since cast iron shrinks during manufacturing, reproductions are smaller in size than the original. See a photo of an original Uncle Sam Bank and a reproduction bank under Acorn Hill Antiques. It is amzing to see the difference.

Being a dealer at the Denver Brass Armadillo and an avid collector, I recently had the opportunity to visit Tucson, Arizona. Naturally I wanted to check out a few of the antique shops there. Making the rounds of several shops, it was only natural to notice the subtle, and not so subtle, differences between the Denver Brass Armadillo and the shops in Tucson. While none of the Tucson shops are as large as the Brass, several shops are centrally located to one another and that helps cut down on driving from one to the next as well as finding parking. However, parking is an issue as there are very, very limited spaces available. Many of the shops appear to be sole owner/dealer shops or shops with a very limited number of dealers. I visited four so called “antique malls” of which the largest had approximately 30,000 square feet and a reported 200 dealers. The others were quite a bit smaller. None approached the size of the Denver Brass Armadillo.
While the Tucson shops have ample inventory of glassware, dishes, jewelry, Native American and Western memorabilia, and other smaller collectibles and antiques, the supply and selection of antique furniture was very limited with almost no Victorian or Early American pieces. Most furniture was Southwest design or mid-Twentieth Century style. The limited furniture antiques may be explained by the fact most of the shops have only limited floor space and there just isn’t space for furniture.
All of the shops have some locked display cases similar to the Brass, but gaining access to a case is not as convenient as the Brass’s individually locked cases. To inspect and closely examine an item in a case in the Tucson shops, it is necessary to go to the front counter and request a staff member to unlock the case. This is very inconvenient and time consuming, not only for the shopper, but also for the shop’s staff. On several occasions I had to wait 5 or more minutes before someone could locate a key to the case and come and unlock a specific case.
Looking for antique dolls? There is a doll museum at Christine’s Antiques which houses hundreds of dolls. It’s quite impressive with dolls of all designs, ages, compositions, size, and value. If you are a doll collector, or just have an interest in dolls, it is worth a trip to Christine’s Antiques on Speedway Boulevard in Tucson.
If you have the opportunity to visit Tucson, be sure to check out the antiques. You will definitely meet some really nice and friendly folks!!!